Dealfind.com, one of those daily deal Groupon clones that everyone got sick of, often posts questionable deals. Some are only useless or frivilous (oh hi Justin Bieber tooth brush), but others are actively deceptive.
One such deal was for a “Crystal Bala Bracelet With Magnetic Hematite Beads.” While careful to avoid specific health claims, they do claim that “in Buddhism, the pañca bala, or Five Strengths are critical to the achievement of enlightenment. Now you can keep them close to you every day with the Bala Bracelet.”
How does a mere bracelet help you achieve enlightenment? Well:
“Crystals catch and refract the light every time you move [and] six beads of magnetic hematite polarize the effect of light and dark”
Sciencey yet spiritual! It must work. It’s not quite the magnetic bracelets you see at summer festivals that claim to cure cancer, but still, manipulative and deceptive.
Luckily Dealifind has a forum to clear up any misconceptions about the products, so I dug a little deeper. Here’s my conversation:
Mike (me)
Can you provide a link to the peer reviewed scientific articles supporting the claim “six beads of magnetic hematite polarize the effect of light and dark”? I’m sure they just got left off by accident. Thanks!
Amy (Dealfind Admin)
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your inquiry.
Our deal page states:
“In Buddhism, the pañca bala, or Five Strengths are critical to the achievement of enlightenment. Now you can keep them close to you every day with the Bala Bracelet. Each of the crystal-encrusted balls represents one of the bala: Faith, Energy, Mindfulness, Concentration and Wisdom. Six beads of smooth magnetic hematite provide the perfectly polarized color choice to offset the crystals.”
For more of a scientific background, please contact Widget Love at 1.800.990.6771.
Thank you!
Mike
I have to call them just to have any idea about whether or not the bracelet does what it says it does? 😦
Can you at least explain what “polarize the effect of light and dark” and “polarized color” even mean?
I want to know more about what I’m getting into before buying into this sca–…er…product. I’m afraid polarizing my dark could have serious medical effects.
Thx!
The above post was deleted shortly after posting it. Later:
Mike
Oh fiddlesticks, I think my follow-up post failed to go through so I’ll post my question again:
Can you at least explain what “polarize the effect of light and dark” and “polarized color” mean?
Thanks!
Mesha (Dealfind Admin)
Hi Mike,
Thank you for your post.
In this sense polarized means that although the colours range from one extreme to another (both dark and light) they compliment each other and the crystals.
For more of a scientific background, please contact Widget Love at 1.800.990.6771.
I hope this helps! 🙂
Mike
Ah, so it’s saying “there are black rocks and white rocks but they are both rocks.”
Thanks! That clears up everything! I’ll take 50!
That post was deleted too.
Yeah, I’m kind of just being a dick. But trying to sell people bullshit (bullshit capitalizing on the perfectly respectable religion of Buddhism) is also pretty dickish. So screw Dealfind and the dickshit company they promote. It’s just a cheap bracelet, but every penny milked from gullible people through lies is a penny too much.
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